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This November 2017 photo shows a new "Wrong Way" sign on an overpass along Interstate 17 in Phoenix. Large new overhead signs have been placed on Interstate 17 bridges in Phoenix to warn drivers going the wrong direction.

ADOT installs overhead signs to alert wrong-way drivers

This November 2017 photo shows a new "Wrong Way" sign on an overpass along Interstate 17 in Phoenix. Large new overhead signs have been placed on Interstate 17 bridges in Phoenix to warn drivers going the wrong direction.

ADOT via AP

PHOENIX — Large new overhead signs have been placed on Interstate 17 bridges in Phoenix to warn drivers going the wrong direction.

The state Department of Transportation says the 26 new signs are part of an effort to curtail wrong-way freeway crashes that have killed at least eight people in Arizona this year.

The overhead signs face the wrong direction of traffic and are located on the same 15-mile stretch of I-17 where ADOT is installing a system to use thermal cameras and other technology to detect wrong-way drivers and provide alerts to troopers and other drivers.

Other steps already taken to warn wrong-way drivers include placing large "wrong way" signs on Phoenix-area off-ramps and large white arrows in exit ramps' travel lanes to indicate the correct direction of travel.